2018 Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux Chambolle-Musigny

Soaring from the glass with scents of raspberries, plums and cherries, mingled with inviting nuances of peonies and dark chocolate, Lachaux's 2018 Chambolle-Musigny Village is medium to full-bodied, velvety and enveloping, with lively acids and exquisitely refined tannins that frame a deep and sapid core of fruit. As I wrote last year, the thoughtful, intelligent and increasingly self-assured Charles Lachaux seems to gain in authority each time I taste with him, and my most recent visit prompted the same reflection. As readers will know by now, in the cuverie, wines that were once heavily extracted and lavishly oaked are now gently macerated, with significant percentages of whole clusters, and matured in mostly used barrels. In the vineyard, the evolution has been just as dramatic. The vines' canopies are now rolled, emulating the practice of Domaine Leroy, and a new parcel in Aux Reignots has been planted at a density of fully 20,000 vines per hectare. That's hugely labor-intensive, yet it appears to be paying off, as Lachaux is able to achieve a concentration in the vineyard that permits the most gentle of extraction in the cuverie. (WK)